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Control of the worlds wealth

Oxfam: Richest 85 people have as much wealth as half of world population

By Matthew Schofield

McClatchy Newspapers

BERLIN — The world’s richest 85 people control the same amount of wealth as half the world’s population, according to a report issued Monday by the British-based antipoverty charity Oxfam.

That means the world’s poorest 3.55 billion people must live on what the richest 85 possess.

Another way to look at it: Each of the wealthiest 85 has access to the same resources as do about 42 million of the world’s poor, a number equal to the populations of Canada, Kentucky and Kansas, when taken together.

The report was issued just before The World Economic Forum opens Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.

The forum is a gathering spot for world political, academic and business leaders where, the forum’s website says, they “shape global, regional and industry agendas.”

In announcing the study, Oxfam’s website said that what it sees as the growing wealth gap undermines democracy.

“The past quarter of a century has seen wealth become ever more concentrated in the hands of fewer people,” it said. “The wealth of the 1 percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half.”

The report says 210 people joined the ranks of billionaires last year, bringing to around 1,400 the people who hold that status.

The report also said that while the recent financial crisis was an enormous burden on the world’s poor, it ended up being a huge benefit to the rich elite.

The very wealthiest people on Earth collected 95 percent of the post-crisis growth, the report said.

The report said that the trend is more pronounced in the United States than in other nations, but hardly limited to the U.S.

It said that in only two countries, Colombia and the Netherlands, had the share of income received by the wealthiest 1 percent not increased between 1980 and 2012.

In the United States, China and Portugal, the report said, the wealthiest 1 percent had seen its share of income more than double in the same period.

“To give an indication of the scale of wealth concentration, the combined wealth of Europe’s 10 richest people exceeds the total cost of stimulus measures implemented across the European Union between 2008 and 2010,” it said.

Oxfam urged countries to take steps to make certain policies didn’t make the situation worse.

“When there is growth and diminishing inequality, the rules governing markets are working in favor of the middle classes and the poorest sections of society,” the report said.

“However, when only the rich are gaining, the rules start bending towards their interests exclusively.”

I do not find this surprising at all. Poor, uneducated, and just plain stupid people tend to reproduce like rabbits while the very opposite tends to happen for those that are smarter and more educated. Naturally there will always be fewer at the top.

I do not find this surprising at all. Poor, uneducated, and just plain stupid people tend to reproduce like rabbits while the very opposite tends to happen for those that are smarter and more educated. Naturally there will always be fewer at the top.

But 85 people !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Out of how many ? And I do not fully accept that those 85 are the better educated or smartest of the lot.

But 85 people !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Out of how many ? And I do not fully accept that those 85 are the better educated or smartest of the lot.

World population a minute ago was 7.207 BILLION, 3.56 Billion of them had as many assets as the top 85 persons. Things were more equitable for Parisians in 1789...and way more equitable in the 13 colonies too.

power without lumber, raciness without weediness

A big man never looks down on others.... instead, he is someone to look up to.

Did anyone else notice that China is one of the three countries where the richest 1% doubled their income gap? Wonder where No Korea stands in that list?

Odd, too, that we are told that the economic state of many poorer Chinese has increased quite a lot due to China's industrialization ... just not enough, it would appear, to keep up with the benefits that accrue to the "elite". If one has doubts that Communism benefits the poor more than the rich, maybe we should take note of this. The elite can be either capitalists or communists, bureaucrats as well as businessmen ... the key does not seem to be in the ideology, but, rather, control.

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

​I don't use the PM feature, so just email me direct at the address shown above.

If history be a guide, I refer any of you to the French or Russian revolutions.

Ole and Sven are quietly sitting in a boat fishing, chewing and drinking beer when suddenly Sven says, 'I think I'm gonna divorce my wife - she ain't spoke to me in over 2 months.' Ole sips his beer and says, 'Better think it over...women like that are hard to find.'

There's always going to be the uber-wealthy and extremely poor throughout the world. I would imagine most of the posters here on RTF are richer than a huge number of the world's poorest.

An illegal immigrant who has hired a coyote to get him across the border is richer than the majority of the people in the world.

Buzz
Your finally catching on.
But there are a few people not on that "richest 85 list" who make those richest 85 look impoverished'

The insanely wealthy have always loved a crisis. And I'll bet they had something to do with developing that crisis. It usually means another transfer of wealth.

At the bottom you have all these people trying to stop what they see starting to occur,,weather its wars or financial collapse or whatever and at the very top you have those people influencing others through the use of money,and power,,,to set rules and regulations to insure that those at the bottom don't get their way, do you ever wonder how our politicians in both parties can be so stupid. well the're not ,,,,their skids have been greased.